OT: Who agrees the World Junior tournament should be in Canada every year?

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Eventhough my family & I maybe at WDW or Clearwater Beach during Christmas we always like to see how the Canadian Junior plays at the World Junior Hockey Championships because we are big Hockey fans (Toronto Maple Leafs fans) but we always cheer for Team Canada no matter what tournament they are playing in. Anyway I have noticed when the tournamnet is held in Canada in such cities as Halifax, Vancouver, Regina & etc it does very very well in terms of attendance at games, Canadians watching on TV & a whole lot more. When the tournamnet is held in Sweeden, Findlad or Russia the arena's are never full & only get more people when the host country plays. The last time when this tournament was held in the United States (Grand Forks North Dakota) the arena was always full with American fans cheering for Team USA, but they said the games were more full when Canada played their games & the town just didn't care. I know the IIHF said Canada will host the tournament every years 3 years, with the next time being in Ottawa in 2009, but how agrees Canada should host this tournament every year? Where else will they get fans who are so loyal to Canadian Junior Hockey players, when other countries even the United States don't pay much attention to because this is not High School, or College Footbal, or other European sports like Soccer which the overseas countries care more about.

 

[cab0899]

Winnipeg has a very close relationship with Grand Forks. It's only a couple of hours away. Grand Forks is a hugh hockey town. Most of the fans at the tournament last year were from Manitoba, a lot of people appreciated having it close by in Grand Forks.

Grand Forks hosts international hockey tournaments which many Manitoba teams attend. We were down for my son's (who was 8) hockey tournament this last winter. Almost all the hockey teams were from Manitoba but the East Grand Forks team played in the championship game! They have a very strong hockey program and hockey history. Their hockey arena has an Olympic size hockey rink and a NHL size hockey rink in the same building! It's an amazing building. We were all taking pictures of the dressing rooms, they were like something out of a movie. I think Grand Forks was a great place to hold the tournament!

Just wanted to throw my support in for Grand Forks which is just a tiny little city that welcomes all of us Manitobans to play hockey every winter. Grand Forks was almost completely destroyed in the 1997 Red River flood/fires and they have done such a great job at rebuilding. Kim

 

[F4disneyfan]

Eventhough my family & I maybe at WDW or Clearwater Beach during Christmas we always like to see how the Canadian Junior plays at the World Junior Hockey Championships because we are big Hockey fans (Toronto Maple Leafs fans) but we always cheer for Team Canada no matter what tournament they are playing in. Anyway I have noticed when the tournamnet is held in Canada in such cities as Halifax, Vancouver, Regina & etc it does very very well in terms of attendance at games, Canadians watching on TV & a whole lot more. When the tournamnet is held in Sweeden, Findlad or Russia the arena's are never full & only get more people when the host country plays. The last time when this tournament was held in the United States (Grand Forks North Dakota) the arena was always full with American fans cheering for Team USA, but they said the games were more full when Canada played their games & the town just didn't care. I know the IIHF said Canada will host the tournament every years 3 years, with the next time being in Ottawa in 2009, but how agrees Canada should host this tournament every year? Where else will they get fans who are so loyal to Canadian Junior Hockey players, when other countries even the United States don't pay much attention to because this is not High School, or College Footbal, or other European sports like Soccer which the overseas countries care more about.

Yes we do get larger turnouts and have a generally hockey crazed nation but don't for a minute think that it means we should hold all teh international under 20 (World Juniour) tournaments that is a crazy thought. It would start to lose favour with other countries and you would soon see only a select few teams in the tournament. Yes Canada should host it often but I think the current scheduling for frequency is just fine don't mess with success and Canada by no means should be the sole venue for this tournament or any international tournament of this nature.

 

[abbyndrewmom]

I work for a company that offer fan tours to the World Juniors. Do you know you can go attend the tournament in Europe for less then you could attend it in Canada, and that includes flights, hotel and game tickets. Our trip to Sweden this year is actually less then we could have offered a trip to Vancouver (from Toronto) last year. The tickets are so outrageously priced when the tournaments come to Canada that for our fans it is not worth it to attend. For the same price they get the added bonus of exploring a Eurporean Destination.

We have almost 300 Canadian fans traveling with us to Leksand, Sweden this December. My husband and I will be going as well. The year after that we will be in the Czech Republic, and only when it comes back to Ottawa in 2009 we will miss it.